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Dame Kelly talks about the value of competitive sport in schools
9th October 2009
Dame Kelly Holmes visited the Conservative Party conference in Manchester this week, after visiting the Labour Party conference in Brighton a week earlier. Dame Kelly travelled to Manchester to tell Tory delegates about the value of competitive sport in school.
Having been the National School Sport Champion for three years, and through her direct experience of working with young people through her charity, Kelly had firsthand experience to draw on and spurred her on to propose a ‘Schools Olympics’.
Dame Kelly said, “Last week I launched the 2010 Kent School Games. Heats and semi-finals are now taking place involving 30,000 young people, 500 schools and 38 sports, all accumulating in a final next July…
…I believe that if a model like that can work in Kent, with all those people engaging in it, then it should be all over the country”
Dame Kelly believes that the Schools Olympics would provide an ideal opportunity and practical way to inspire more young people to participate in, and stay in sport and would be a great contribution to a positive legacy for the 2012 Games. This would complement the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust and the work it does with young people to find and fulfil their potential in sport and in life by working with elite sports performers
“If we could copy the Kent model so every county can host their own school games, replicate the amount of young people in those sports, and then have a massive Schools Olympics, then that is what should be left…
…It is not just for the young people taking part. School teachers will be motivated to get behind this, parents will see their young people enjoying sports and communities and local authorities will come together…
…My challenge is for someone to put on a Schools Olympics. That is one of the things that should be left after the Games in 2012”
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